The present Interdepartmental Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine in Gdynia of the Medical University of Gdańsk was formally established in 1939 by the Order of June 5, 1939, of the Minister of Social Welfare, Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski. However, the Branch of the National Institute of Hygiene in Gdynia was founded 2 years earlier, in 1937 (the first head was Dr. Med. Jerzy Jakóbkiewicz [1892–1953]), and its fruitful activity was ennobled 2 years later by increasing its rank and adding the name “Marine and Tropical Hygiene Institute”. These facts are very little known, and therefore worth presenting in the jubilee years of the 80th anniversary of the institution.

Keywords: Epidemiology, History of Medicine, Military Hygiene, Tropical Medicine, History, 20th Century, Hygiene, Poland